Can Flagstaff win online 'best town ever' contest?

• It's a totally made-up title%2C but Flagstaff earns a No. 2 seed in 'best town' competition.
• Magazine voters to weigh food%2C trails%2C neighborhoods %u2014 and beer.

On paper, the match-up seems lopsided: a city of 68,000 people with a decent-sized university set against a town of 17,000 with a community college. But what is it the coaches always say? The game isn't played on paper.

In this case, it's played on a website by readers of a magazine, who will vote for the totally made-up title of Best Town Ever, a slogan some tourism bureau somewhere must surely already be trying on for size.

Outside magazine editors selected 60 U.S. towns and cities based on another totally made-up list of qualifying factors, such as restaurants, neighborhoods, access to trails, public lands and — "of course," as they note — the local beer scene. Readers chose four more towns as wild-card entries. Those 64 places (see how that worked out?) were entered on a sporty-looking bracket based on geography.

Flagstaff landed as the No. 2 seed in the West division, right behind No. 1 Santa Barbara (which has a coastline and beaches) and just ahead of Santa Fe, N.M. (no coastline or beaches). For the first round of online voting, Flagstaff faces off against Sheridan, Wyo., a town at the base of the Bighorn Mountains.

Interesting fact: You can eat breakfast in Sheridan at a place called the Flagstaff Cafe, but you would have to drive 33 miles from Flagstaff to Williams if you wanted to stay at the Sheridan House Inn.

Here's how Outside describes Flagstaff: "This high desert town (7,000 feet) has one of the clearest night skies in the United States, is surrounded by the world's largest ponderosa pine forest, and is just 80 miles from the Grand Canyon. Flagstaff is a year-round, high-altitude mecca for mountain bikers, campers, and hikers. In town, walk the Flagstaff-Grand Canyon Ale Trail."

And here's the pitch for Sheridan: "From the weeklong Sheridan WYO rodeo to still-standing cabins from pioneer days, the Old West is very much alive here. So is the spirit of adventure: The stunning Bighorn Mountains to the west make a rugged playground for rock climbers, fly-fishermen, campers, and hikers. Plus, the town hosts the Spuds 'n' Spurs Brew Fest each September.'

Note the reference to beer in both towns, a factor important to residents, visitors and students at Northern Arizona University and Sheridan College.

If Flagstaff wins its first-round competition, which closes May 8, the city will go on to meet the winner of Hilo, Hawaii, vs. Juneau, Alaska — a fierce battle between the only two cities in states younger than Arizona.

But the real showdown could come in the third round, where Flagstaff may find itself up against Las Vegas (the one in Nevada, not the one in New Mexico), perhaps a dark-casino entrant in a competition staged by an outdoors magazine. (Las Vegas is a 14th-seed and meets Santa Fe in the first round.)

To vote and to size up the full bracket, head to Outside's website.